1970s Actor David Cassidy Convicted of Drunk Driving

Anyone who is old enough to remember the Partridge Family will surely remember former child actor and drummer David Cassidy from the popular television show. According to a recent report from The Boston Herald, Cassidy was sentenced following his plea of guilty to one of his charges of drunk driving.
Authorities say they arrested Cassidy in January of 2014. He allegedly had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.19 grams per hundred milliliters of blood, which is more than twice the legal limit of 0.08. This is the legal limit in California, where Cassidy was arrested, and also in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as our Boston drunk driving accident lawyers can explain.

Prosecutors say this was not Cassidy’s first arrest for drunk driving, as he was also arrested and charged with felony DWI in August of 2013 in New York State. In connection with the New York case, he recently plead guilty, and the court sentenced him to pay a fine of $900 and complete 50 hours of court-supervised community service.

In connection with the more recent California case, his attorney says Cassidy entered alcohol rehabilitation as part of the court process. Fortunately, neither of these alleged acts of drunk driving resulted in anyone being injured.

When an individual has been arrested for drunk driving and convicted, especially on more than one occasion, there is a decent possibility he or she will not have a valid driver’s license. If they do have a driver’s license, they may be required to carry SR-22 high risk, which may cost the insured driver more, but not necessarily help victims of drunk driving accidents.

However, this does not mean there is no source of insurance from which victims can recover. If you own a car registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, under state law, you have what is known as uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. UM coverage is a policy with the same limits as your liability insurance and is designed to compensate you if you are in an accident caused by an uninsured driver. Even if you have never heard of this type of insurance coverage, our law requires it be sold along with your standard policy, unless you specifically disclaim it, which is fairly difficult to do.

The way UM coverage works is that when you are in an accident caused by an uninsured driver, you must file a claim with your own insurance company. While it would be nice if your insurance company treated you like their customer, since you actually are their customer, they often transfer these UM claims to a different department, so they can treat you the same as they would an opposing party. For this reason, it is best to speak with an experienced drunk driving accident lawyer who can advise you of your rights and will be willing to fight for a full and appropriate financial recovery.

In addition to UM coverage, there is also a type of coverage made mandatory in Massachusetts, which is known as underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. UIM coverage is designed to help in accidents where at-fault driver has insurance but not enough coverage to compensate a victim for his or her total loss.

If you have been injured in a Boston drunk driving accident, call for a free and confidential appointment at 1-888-367-2900.